Thursday, June 30, 2005

Swear words

The Evangelical Atheist explains why if the majority can include their religion in government and law, the minority is harmed because their failure to do so is regarded as suspect:

In a court of law, you will also be asked to swear on a bible. It is the “default setting” for jurors and witnesses. A secular affirmation is available if requested, but it seldom is. This is partially because people don’t know it’s available. For witnesses and defendants, it’s often because a failure to swear on a bible is considered prejudicial to a jury that is almost always predominantly Christian. So, for atheists (and other non-Christians), the intellectual honesty of refusing to swear on a book you find meaningless could increase your chances of conviction. So much for fair and impartial. So much for equal protection. While there is no legal compulsion for a politician or a participant in our judicial system to swear on a bible or invoke the name of god, the fact that anyone is allowed to do so makes the system unfair to nonbelievers.